WG: June 2001

enjoy the reading
arno tausch


> ----------
> Von:  Le Monde diplomatique[SMTP:english@monde-diplomatique.fr]
> Gesendet:     Freitag, 15. Juni 2001 11:32
> An:   Le Monde diplomatique
> Betreff:      June 2001
> 
> 
>    Le Monde diplomatique 
>    
>  
> -----------------------------------------------------
>    
>    
>                                  June 2001
>                                       
>                                In this issue:
>    ... read Ignacio Ramonet and Marc Augé on reality television; reports
>      from Iran, Afghanistan and Morocco; how the US supports religious
>     cults; France inspects its colonial record in Algeria... and more...
>                                       
>                                       
>    
> REALITY TELEVISION: BIG BROTHER WATCH
> 
> High surveillance *
> 
> by IGNACIO RAMONET
> 
>      Loft Story, shown on France's M6 channel since 26 April, is drawing
>      audiences of upwards of 10m. A TV programme has never before
>      attracted this kind of response in France, or fascinated, worried
>      or irritated so many people. Although we know that images tell us
>      more about the society watching them than about the images
>      themselves, their meaning here is far from clear.
>      
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
>      
>    
>    
> Really real but only onscreen *
> 
> by MARC AUGÉ
> 
>                                               Translated by Julie Stoker
>      
>    
>    
> MOBILE KING AND STATIC SOCIETY
> 
> Morocco: waiting for serious change *
> 
> by IGNACE DALLE
> 
>      Next month Morocco marks the second anniversary of the death of
>      King Hassan II and Muhammad VIs accession to the Alawite throne. At
>      first the young king impressed public opinion by the speed with
>      which he took measures in regard to greater freedoms, political
>      exiles and victims of repression; and his skill in handling
>      Islamist groups and the sacking of the former interior minister
>      were welcomed as evidence of his desire for progress. But recently
>      this progress has come to a halt, leaving society impatient for the
>      real change it expects.
>      
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>      
>    
>    
> THE WORLD ISOLATES THE TALIBAN
> 
> Afghanistan all alone
> 
> by GILLES DORRONSORO
> 
>      Adding to their unpopularity, the Taliban decided in May to force
>      Hindus living in Afghanistan to wear a distinctive sign on their
>      clothing. The recent UN Security Council embargo has increased the
>      regimes isolation, but its full force is being felt by the Afghan
>      people who are also suffering from an unprecedented drought. To
>      make matters worse, the Taliban have responded to the sanctions by
>      suspending talks with the opposition. Ahmad Shah Massoud, one of
>      its most prominent leaders, received expressions of support in
>      Europe in April. Yet western policy towards Afghanistan remains
>      deeply ambiguous.
>      
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>      
>        <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/04taliban>
>    
>    
> FEARLESS AND DYNAMIC YOUNG DEMAND CHANGE
> 
> Irans referendum for democracy *
> 
> by our special correspondent ÉRIC ROULEAU
> 
>      On 8 June President Mohammad Khatami won a sweeping victory in
>      Irans presidential elections. But despite his clear mandate for
>      political reform, he is still up against strong opposition. The
>      conservative clergy holds key positions in the power structure and,
>      during his previous term of office, stepped up its repression,
>      closing newspapers, detaining and arresting intellectuals and
>      members of the progressive and liberal opposition. Nonetheless,
>      Khatami has a powerful ally: the dynamism of Iranian society.
>      
>                                               Translated by Linda Butler
>      
>    
>    
> NO TOURISTS, NO AID, NO GOVERNMENT
> 
> Haitis business is drugs *
> 
> by our special correspondent CHRISTOPHE WARGNY
> 
>      The international community froze all loans to Haiti in 1997
>      because of the countrys political turmoil. This May President Mejía
>      of the neighbouring Dominican Republic appealed for aid to be
>      resumed since its discontinuation is affecting not only Haiti but
>      the whole region. As the political vacuum grows, the mafia is
>      expanding to fill it: the traffic in drugs has increased more than
>      threefold in the space of four years, adding to Haitis already
>      disastrous image.
>      
>                                             Translated by Barbara Wilson
>      
>    
>    
> FEARLESS AND DYNAMIC YOUNG DEMAND CHANGE
> 
> A mixed record
> 
> E.R.
> 
>                                               Translated by Linda Butler
>      
>        <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/06iran-box>
>    
>    
> BLACK WORLD OF AMERICAN BOXING
> 
> The fight game: or the whore, the slave and the stallion *
> 
> by LOÏC WACQUANT
> 
>      African-American boxers are well aware that they are exploited and
>      they use the language of prostitution and slavery to express their
>      awareness. But although they lead a tough, ascetic life, they
>      rarely protest at the poor rewards and resign themselves to being
>      bodily merchandise. Loïc Wacquant spent three years living and
>      training with them in Chicagos South Side black ghetto.
>      
>                                              Original article in English
>      
>    
>    
> EUROPE RESISTS AMERICAN RELIGIOUS CULTS
> 
> Secular society at stake
> 
> by BRUNO FOUCHEREAU
> 
>      The Swiss conductor Michel Tabachnik was charged with criminal
>      conspiracy in connection with the Order of the Solar Temple this
>      April in France: 71 of its members had died in four so-called
>      collective suicides from 1994 to 1997. The case focused attention
>      on groups which claim to be religious sects, but are instead
>      engaged in money-making activities. France is now ushering in
>      legislation that will allow the courts to dissolve such movements.
>      The US administration is, however, trying to ensure their impunity
>      on grounds of religious freedom and supports various cults which
>      peddle forms of new-right and neo-conservative ideology in the name
>      of anti-communism.
>      
>                                               Translated by Barry Smerin
>      
>        <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/09sects>
>    
>    
> TORTURE IN ALGERIA: PAST ACTS THAT HAUNT FRANCE
> 
> False memory *
> 
> by PASCAL BLANCHARD, SANDRINE LEMAIRE and NICOLAS BANCEL
> 
>      The Vichy regime prompted investigation and debate leading to a new
>      understanding of that period. Yet France's colonial past remains
>      unmentionable. De Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America and
>      one of the principal advocates of liberal politics, remains highly
>      respected despite his support for violence in the conquest of
>      Algeria. This gives some idea of the pitfalls surrounding the
>      current French debate on torture during the war in Algeria. Torture
>      was not just the result of conflict: it was part and parcel of
>      colonisation. And it revealed the contradictions of republican
>      France, proclaiming universal emancipation but practising
>      discrimination.
>      
>                                              Translated by Harry Forster
>      
>    
>    
> Liberty, equality and colony
> 
> by OLIVIER LE COUR GRANDMAISON
> 
>                                              Translated by Harry Forster
>      
>        <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/11torture2>
>    
>    
> THE SOUTH HELPS THE SOUTH
> 
> Redevelopment in Senegal *
> 
> by our special correspondent ROLAND-PIERRE PARINGAUX
> 
>      Cuts in development aid from governments in the last two years have
>      not as yet been offset by private sector investments. The EU has
>      abandoned voluntarism by ending the system created as part of the
>      Lomé convention, and is now focusing exclusively on opening up new
>      markets. As a result, countries in the South are now embracing
>      various bilateral ventures, sometimes with surprising results.
>      
>                                              Translated by Luke Sandford
>      
>    
>    
> TELLING IT HOW IT IS IN THE TOWNSHIPS
> 
> South Africa's cleansing soap *
> 
> by our special correspondent JEAN-CHRISTOPHE SERVANT
> 
>      South Africa is still deep in crisis: unemployment, drugs, sexual
>      violence, homophobia, blatant inequality in schools, vigilantes.
>      Yizo Yizo, a TV soap with a huge audience, devised in conjunction
>      with the ministry of education, tackles all these issues,
>      reflecting the lives of the young in the ghettos. Each episode
>      provokes heated protest from the new black elite: in today's South
>      Africa the polemic is no longer racial but social.
>      
>                                               Translated by Julie Stoker
>      
>    
>    
> ISRAELS LUCRATIVE OSLO YEARS
> 
> The market price of peace *
> 
> by MARWAN BISHARA
> 
>      One of the contradictions that Ariel Sharons government faces is
>      the economic repercussion of the Palestinian intifada, particularly
>      in view of how, during the 1990s, Israel profited from the Oslo
>      accords.
>      
>                                                 Original text in English
>      
>    
> 
> 
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>      _________________________________________________________________
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> <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/>
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